Nakatani Miki is only three years older than Ziyi Zhang,though Ziyi chan looks younger.

Have you guys watched this newest Oi Ocha CM?
http://www.itoen.co.jp/oiocha/cm_3.html

I also heard that Mr.Rob rejected Miyazawa Rie too.

kenjilina wrote:

i suppose the cast choice is a curious one given the setting of the film but as people have said here it's down to marketability. i like zhang ziyi so i'd probably watch this movie ...

I think so too Zhang is a famous actress because of her talent and the many movies she acted in!
I think I'm going to watch the movie too. Like Kenjilian, I like her a lot too I hope the movie will be good and I'm going to see how good the director and the CHINESE ACTRESSES are going to bring the book to the screen![/b]

i've not heard zhang speak english so i'm curious.

loved her in rush hour2. funny film.

kenjilina wrote:

i've not heard zhang speak english so i'm curious. loved her in rush hour2. funny film.

Yahoo's got the trailer up now, and you can hear ZZ speak English. Though I couldn't tell you if it is her voice or dubbed.

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/memoirsofageisha.html

Based on the trailer, I'd guess they changed the story quite a bit... Sayuri was a very passive character... the trailer seems to make her more active. It almost reminds me of the trailer for the Point of No Return, the awful American remake of Le Femme Nikita, where Bridget Fonda is demanding out.

It still bugs me to see chugokujin actresses in all three roles. Don't get me wrong, my GF is chugokujin too, it's just that there are so many capable actresses in Japan that could have done these roles. When I see GL, ZZ, and MY, I can instantly tell they are not Japanese. Of course, 98% of the rest of the world probably cannot tell the difference.

Nonetheless, I've always respected Gong Li and thought she was beautiful, and Michelle Yeoh never fails to put a big smile on my face.

Zhang Ziyi I've got mixed feelings about... she is one of the most marketable celebrities in China, but not that good of an actress yet. Most folks without a theater background may not notice, but she is not a classically trained actress. ZZ's training is in dance and it shows in her movements. Similarly, her martial arts moves in CTHD demonstrate grace but no power, which is also due to her lack of martial arts training; by comparison, when you see Michelle Yeoh, there's a large difference in athletic skill and power.

However, ZZ is certainly improving as an actress, she was wonderful in House of Flying Daggers most recently despite the overdone art and stolid script. Somehow I doubt that director Rob Marshall is going to handle her as well as Ang Lee, as Rob's forte is choreography and doesn't speak Mandarin.

Here's hoping for the best...



Cheers,
PCM

pcmodem wrote:

Yahoo's got the trailer up now, and you can hear ZZ speak English. Though I couldn't tell you if it is her voice or dubbed. http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/memoirsofageisha.html

thank you very much for that. i was quite impressed with her english. however, zhang doesn't look japanese which will bug me when i watch this movie, although i do like her.

Actually, Zhang Ziyi *is* a classically trained actress, at least that's what I read about her. She did start off in dance school, but later on she was educated in the prestigious Central Drama Academy (which is the place where Gong Li and Zhang Yi Mou studied too). I'm not a big fan of Zhang however. But she does have a magnetic screen presence, I'll give her that.

Memoirs of A Geisha is being made primarily to cater to the tastes of western audiences, or else they'd make the actors speak japanese and have english subs. That'd be more authentic. It just seems silly to me to have japanese geishas speak to each other in british accented english.

Personally I'd love to see a bigger japanese cast for the movie. Sayuri I would imagine Kou Shibasaki in the role - she's got unique eyes that can be spell binding. Mameha could be played by Nanako Matsushima/Rie Miyazawa and maybe Gong Li is the exception. She's the only chinese actress who can pull off the perfect Hatsumomo, so I am actually looking forward to seeing her in the movie.

Although I really like Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeoh, and Gong Li I am not happy with the decision to cast them in this film. It kind of fells like they are saying all asians are the same.

Even though they speak seem to do a great job speaking English in the clips it is with a chinese accent not a Japanese accent. I think if I see the movie it will bug me the whole time.

Feels like a slap in the face to Japanese actors. Could they find noone in Japan with sufficient talent?

Maybe I am just too picky but it kind of bugs me.

I'm still somewhat "amused" over what Marshall said in an interview once about the geisha being an Asian thing... I don't know, Japan is now Asia and Asia is now Japan? Is he stuck in the 1930s or somehow wants to help the ultra-nationalists who still roam Japan every now and then? That's just like saying the Oktoberfest in Munich is a European thing... Honestly, that statement from him just pissed me off, and it still does. He clearly lacks knowledge (even my mother knows geisha are typical only for Japan), heck, he obviously doesn't even know geography. And he lacks respect towards the old geisha culture (even though he claims the opposite).

Of course they're going by the old black and white scheme, they did it in last samurai, of course they'll be doing it here too (hey, it's Hollywood, don't expect them to be really creative or original). You don't really expect the average viewer in the west to turn on his brain, do you? And yes, in Western movies all Asians are the same, no matter where they come from, you should have realized that by now.

And people wonder why I rarely watch any of those mainstream movies from the west.

Actually, I don't expect MoG be that much of a success anyway. For the West it lacks all the really big names to really draw people into the cinemas. Sure, Watanabe and Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh are known here, but well, the majority of people only knows the latter two in action movies, so that may be a big turn off for many people ("Ziyi and Yeoh in a movie without any super-cool fight scenes? Not interesting") For Asia, well... I can't see it being a great sucess in Japan, (sorry, but for that it lacks just too much and if it really follows the book from the main storyline it'll flop in Japan, cause the book was still just the view of a westerner and caused the geisha who was interviewed by Golden to fire back). In China? No, not really either. Geisha are something Japanese, I doubt the Chinese really give much of a damn about that (especially with the anti-Japanese sentiments still around).

And I still think the argument that they couldn't let the actresses wear correct wigs because those wigs are too heavy is BS and just proves that someone in the staff is not doing his job, someone... like the director. I think the real reason is that Marshall doesn't give a damn about accuracy, because, if a real geisha can wear those, or a Japanese actress in any jidai geki can wear those, then the cast in MoG can wear those too. Those wigs aren't that heavy. I suspect he's just filming his own, dumbass view.

I'm not saying it has to be 100% correct, btw. But at least they could have gotten the most important parts right (like the hairstyle for example, that doesn't take the world to get it right). But hey, it's Hollywood... they suck.

I wonder how Kurosawa would have filmed such a movie... It'd surely kick ass. I think I'm going to watch "The sea is watching" now... need to get my mind off this typical Western BS.

MonsterZero-65 wrote:

Although I really like Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeoh, and Gong Li I am not happy with the decision to cast them in this film. It kind of fells like they are saying all asians are the same.

Hollywood always does that shiet...and they do it not merely to Asians, but blacks, latinos, and other ethnic groups.... join the fuggin' club and get used to it...shiet has been that way for a while and i don't see it changing any time soon.

Do you think if it pertained to people of Latin American descent they would distinguish between a Central American and a South American....

I'm waiting for the scene in "Memoirs" where they get Zhyang Zhyi to put on black face and do the Jim Crow dance out of racist nostalgia...



I can see it now...Zhyang Zhyi sayin, "Yes, Massa"

Evil old Hollywood.

Stupid westerners.

Insensitive SONY PICTURES.
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Geezer wrote:

Evil old Hollywood. Stupid westerners. Insensitive SONY PICTURES.

let's just call it "memoirs of a geezer" and be done with it...at least we know the movie will be fuggin' funneeh.

hats off....

Happy Birthday Tu_triky

And I'll tell you. If it was called Memoirs of a Geezer, Miki Nakatani sure would have gotten the lead.

By the way, I just read that Yoon-jin Kim was originally offered the lead.

Boy it would have been cool watching her playing the little Geisha, waiting for her to pull out an M-16 and blow everybody away. (Or have I seen "Shiri" too many times?)
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Geezer wrote:

Happy Birthday Tu_triky And I'll tell you. If it was called Memoirs of a Geezer, Miki Nakatani sure would have gotten the lead.

thanks, by the way...well if miki nakatani played the part of the protagonist i wouldn't be complaining as well...i think she is a great actress.

Geezer wrote:

Happy Birthday Tu_triky And I'll tell you. If it was called Memoirs of a Geezer, Miki Nakatani sure would have gotten the lead. By the way, I just read that Yoon-jin Kim was originally offered the lead. Boy it would have been cool watching her playing the little Geisha, waiting for her to pull out an M-16 and blow everybody away. (Or have I seen "Shiri" too many times?)

I'd buy tickets to watch Memoirs of a Geezer starring Nakatani Miki, but wouldn't it be rated XXX?



Action!
-PCM

It would, I believe, be classified as an Art Film.
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Will it really be made sometimes?
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yeah i totally agree. have you seen the preview yet? i think zhang ziyi did a great job nonetheless (:

pcmodem wrote:

I'd buy tickets to watch Memoirs of a Geezer starring Nakatani Miki, but wouldn't it be rated XXX? Action! -PCM

I'd pay to see that!

Er...I saw the trailer, I was actually impressed by it, so I'll have to see how it goes in the theater.
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-=kitakaze=-

they're going to film Memoirs of a Geisha? i just read that there are no japanese actress in it.. is it true?? well because i think it's not a good idea i mean it's a Geisha here, very related-to-Japan, so i guess it's best when japanese actresses are in is Zhang Zi Yi going to play a role in it?

I think it's going to be a really good film, just like the book was a really good book. but like the book it's not going to be accurate. I also think Zhang Ziyi's Chinese accent sounds bizarre in this sort of setting. And she just doesn't look Japanese to me at all.